Alienware Area 51 Arrives With Intel X299 Inside

Dell announced that Intel X-series processors and X299 chipsets can now be loaded into its premium gaming desktop, the Alienware Area 51.

We first heard of Dell’s intention to bring X299 to the Area 51 back in June. At the time, little was known of the product’s full specifications and configuration options, except that Intel X299 and Threadripper versions were on the way. Later, Dell detailed the Threadripper Area 51, but the company waited until now to pull back the curtain on the top-tier Intel offering.

The Alienware Area 51 with Intel Core X-series processors can be equipped with a Core i7-7800X, i7-7820X, or i9-7900X processor, with liquid cooling coming standard for the high-powered CPUs. The X299 motherboard features an unlocked BIOS for overclocking, and the platform can be equipped with up to a 64GB kit of Kingston HyperX DDR4-2933 in its four DDR4 UDIMM slots.

Graphics options come from both sides of the aisle, with Nvidia graphics ranging from a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti to a GTX 1080 Ti, and AMD Radeon graphics options consisting of the top-three RX 500-series GPUs (RX 560, 570, and 580). Dual graphics configurations are available with GTX 1070, 1080, and 1080 Ti GPUs, and triple-card setups are offered with Radeon RX 570s or RX 580s.

The new Alienware Area 51 with Intel X-series processors doesn’t skimp out on the storage options, with single-drive configurations featuring a 2TB 7,200RPM HDD or a 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD. Dual-drive configurations consist of a 2TB HDD and 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 PCIe SSDs. Intel Optane memory is also available in capacities of 16GB and 32GB, with 1TB and 2TB HDD options.

Dell packs a lot of power into the new Area 51 (literally), with power supply options starting at 850W and going up to 1500W. Connectivity is also in abundance in the new Area 51, with eight USB 3.0 ports (two front, six rear) and two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (one Type-A, one Type-C). Dual gigabit LAN is provided by a Qualcomm Killer E2500 NIC, and wireless connectivity is available in the form of Killer 1535 or Dell 1820 802.11ac WiFi.